Nevada Lawyering Performance Examination (NLPE)
What the NLPE Tests
The Nevada Lawyering Performance Examination tests what a new lawyer actually does: analyze a closed file, find the governing rule, apply facts, and produce a professional work product. You may be asked to draft a memorandum, a client letter, a contract provision, or an advocacy letter. The file supplies facts and authorities; you are not expected to recall outside Nevada law unless the prompt says so. Graders score organization, accurate rule use, fact application, and adherence to the assigned task.
Core Approach
- Read the task memo first and underline the deliverable, audience, and deadline.
- Inventory the file: pleadings, interview notes, statutes, cases, and any conflicting facts.
- Build a rule section from the supplied authorities, citing them as given.
- Apply facts element by element; flag missing facts rather than inventing them.
- Follow professional format: headings, short paragraphs, and a clear conclusion.
Worked Example
Task: draft a memo on whether a Nevada client can recover for a slip-and-fall in a casino. The file includes an incident report, a witness statement, and a Nevada statute on premises liability. Reasoning: identify the duty owed to a business invitee, the breach (failure to inspect or remedy), causation, and damages. Use the witness's timeline to show the spill existed long enough to create constructive notice. Note the open question if the file lacks the duration of the spill; recommend targeted discovery rather than assuming facts. The memo should answer the question asked, not survey all of premises liability.
Traps
- Writing a legal treatise instead of answering the specific question.
- Ignoring a supplied authority that changes the common-law rule.
- Failing to address an ethics issue in the file, such as a conflict or confidentiality concern.
- Missing the requested format or audience.
- Relying on outside law when the file supplies the governing rule.